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rgwch edited this page Oct 18, 2018 · 5 revisions

There have been a few iterations up to now:

Webelexis 1 (2015)

Server: VertX based Java/Kotlin program. REST based transport.

Client: RequireJS/Knockout/Durandal; Build System: mimosa.

Many of the concepts kept until today have been developed there. But the layout especially of the client side imposed some limits on the flexibility, stability and performance. And the development of both, Java/Kotlin and Javascript interfaces for Elexis objects was inefficient and error prone.

Of course, Webelexis-1 is still here: git checkout 1.0.1

Webelexis 2 (2017)

Server: JavaScript/NodeJS/Express application called Janus, because it had two faces: an mysql/elexis client on the database side and a FHIR Server on the Web side. It was fully Javascript, so all data types were useable seemlessly on the client side.

Client: A complete rewrite with much help of Patrick Walters from Aurelia (a help I could afford thanks to a sponsor for Webelexis). I learned a lot about JavaScript/Typescript and Aurelia. The build engine was JSPM/SystemJS.

Webelexis 2 brought dockerizing and a strong user concept. The build system had some problems with some plugins, and I didn't like the Material Design I had chosen any more. And the FHIR interface brought a huge overhead without real benefit, since no Elexis Server with FHIR API exists.

Webelexis 2 is still here: git checkout 2.0.6

Webelexis-es (2018)

Well this is only a proof of concept: Connect an Aurelia App with an Elexis-Server (which will have a FHIR API). It works, but development is a bit painful for now, since only a few datatypes exist and there is no concept for bidirectional communication in FHIR. A development version of the server is quite difficult to setup and to use (at least it was for me). So, Webelexis-es is on hold. git clone https://github.com/rgwch/webelexis-es

Webelexis 3 (2018)

This is the current master.

server: A FeathersJS NodeJS app. SocketIO based bidirectional transport. FeathersJS allows construction of a microservice based API which matches my development style (only develop as much as you need exactly now)

client: A rewrite of the Aurelia App, now based on Bootstrap instead of Material. Build System is now ŵebpack which seems to be the best-liked kid in town today.

So what about next year? When will this mess be stable?

In some respect, it is. You can still use webelexis-1 and webelexis-2. The server-side Interface will never change, because it has always to stay compatible with Elexis. What changes is only the transport layer and the UI.

You sure need some spirit of adventure to use webelexis, but: Well, you can (and should) use Webelexis and Elexis in parallel. And if you don't like Webelexis, you can always leave without losing anything.